


The Meaning of a Name

by LadyBrooke



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Learning to be Loved, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 10:14:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23969704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyBrooke/pseuds/LadyBrooke
Summary: She does not tell them to call her by her name when she is brought to this new land to become Queen.
Relationships: New Queen Grieving & Besieged/Her Badass Bisexual Harem
Comments: 6
Kudos: 15
Collections: Id Pro Quo 2020





	The Meaning of a Name

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sheliak](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sheliak/gifts).



“The carriage for the funeral awaits, my Queen.”

She stood, slowly and carefully, from the heavy wood desk. Down the corridor, she could see the various members of the harem lining the walls, and she wished she could close her eyes against their gaze. They were watching her, she knew, waiting for the moment when they would have to tell her something else about this country. 

For how could they not? She was the fifth daughter of the second son, and if not for the utter mess her uncle had made of his throne, she would have spent her life in another country. She was not prepared for this, as the siege showed. She had few allies, when even her own father would not help.

But her uncle had made an utter mess of his throne, and so the nobles here had sent for another member of her family - and had been precise enough to include that it must be a woman, for they would no longer accept a king over them. That was all that had mattered, in the end. She was the daughter not already promised somewhere else. 

“Tell me, who will be going with me today?” She could not help but hope that it would be Elfa, with her kind smile, or Kama, who was strong enough to hold her upright even when she could not do so herself, and kind enough to not judge her for it.

“They all are,” her secretary said. “It is the final day of the funerals, and you must be seen to have complete control over the court.”

Of course, she thought. Of course I must be seen as such, even though I do not.

“Thank you,” she said, fixing a smile on her face. “I welcome their company.”

It was not, she thought, that she did not welcome their company. There was nothing she feared from them, because with a single word she could order them to do anything.

It was that they had all been together for some time now, and she was the new Queen. At least at home she had been surrounded by people she had known, if not those she had been close to. Now there was no one here except them.

The funeral was equally as isolating. Her father was there, saying goodbye to his brother, and then to her. He would not return, at least not for some years. 

She noticed them watching her again.

“Forgive me,” Bifa said later that evening, even as she continued to sew. “But I could not help but notice your father-”

There she cut off for a moment, frowning at her latest stitch.

Then Bifa looked up again. “He did not call you by your name, even when there was no one but the two of you and us around. Does he not know that we are bound by magic to not betray you?”

She considered this for a moment, considering how much she should tell them of customs in her father’s lands. Then she took a breath. Honesty could not hurt her with them, however strange it felt to not hide behind half truths and lies. 

“No one has called me by my name in years,” she said. “In my father’s lands, such is a sign of close affections. My family believed it best to limit the a number of people he was close to, in case of an attack.”

They were looking at her now. Not they were not always looking at her, but this time she could not tell what their expressions meant.

“It is well enough, I suppose. If he had been seen as being close to me, it would not have been permissible to allow me to come here.” She looked back down at her book. She could not regret such, really. It was not as though being alone here had been significantly different from there. 

“I am glad for that, at least,” Kama said.

Next to him, Marla nodded. “It is good that you have come to our lands. We must teach you to defend yourself, of course, but that is a simple enough matter.”

She blinked. That had not been something she had considered, the members of her harem tutoring her, but now that she looked around -

“You could all teach me some subject or another, could you not?”

Elfa nodded. “We were not just chosen for our looks.”

“We must teach you,” one of the women in the back said. “This siege will not lift if they think you are weak.”

She had to admit that she did not know all of their names yet, and tried to place the voice, at least.

“Of course,” she said. She wished her own education had been broader, and not so full of the things her father had thought appropriate for a girl who would never rule. She had learned as much as she could on secret, even though it had been difficult to find the tutors, but there was always more. “Set a schedule, and I shall learn what you think appropriate.”

It seemed that had been the way to win over some of the more reluctant members’ affections. 

Of course, it had also given her more time with the ones who already had seemed to hold some affection for her.

She had not expected to be tutored in fighting, but perhaps that should not have been so surprising. It did not surprise her either that Kama was the one teaching her sword fighting, or that Elfa had chosen to teach her knives.

Nor did it surprise her that neither of them had hesitated to push her as far as she could be pushed.

If that had led to this, her lying on the ground and gasping for breath, with a dress that would need all of Bifa’s skills to fix, if it could be fixed at all, she could not complain.

“Will you not take me, Kama?” she asked, dress still on the ground in tatters. “I should like to be tutored in other matters as well.”

“I would like to do nothing more, my lady.” He kept his eyes averted to the ground. “But I will do no such thing without your leave.”

“Consider my leave granted.”

“Have you done anything like this before?” he asked, standing before her.

She shook her head. “Nay, but I will not shy from any pain.”

“I would not have you feel pain that can be avoided,” he said, before picking her up. “We will find Elfa, and she shall help us.”

“Have you been with her before?” She was surprised to not find herself jealous at the thought.

“For years. I was barely more than a boy when I came here, but I had already been to war. You would not have recognized me in those days, I was half vicious and ready to fight anyone in sight. Elfa helped me. She will help you too.”

“What help do you think I need? I am well aware of the basics, I assure you. My mother told me of such.” Indeed, her mother had, assuring her that it was over soon enough - and perhaps this would be better, since she did at least like Kama, whereas her parents had at best tolerated each other her entire life.

“Forgive me, my lady, but I must express my doubts in your mother’s ability to educate you in this matter.”

She would have argued, but they stepped through the doorway and there was Elfa. Elfa smiled at the sight, and then without a word took her clothes off as well.

“I suppose you two planned this,” she said as Kama and Elfa smiled at each other over her body.

“You did say we should plan the lessons, my lady,” Elfa said. “Should we not teach you all of what we know, so that our Queen may have the best life she can?”

“My mother,” she said, and then quieted. Her mother had taught her of life there, but this was a new life in a new country. She cleared her throat. “Yes, you should.”

She was pleased when Elfa did not say anything more on the subject, and fixed Kama with a look when it appeared he would. “What will you teach me first?”

“Kissing, on your lips and other places,” Elfa said.

She barely had time to think of what that meant before Elfa had captured her lips in a kiss, holding the back of her head and pulling her into Elfa’s lap. It was better than she had expected, especially given that Elfa seemed to expect nothing more. She closed her eyes, focusing on the sensation of lips against her own, the gentle scrape of teeth against her skin.

And then her eyes flew open as she felt what remained of her clothes moved to the side, and Kama kissing his way downwards from her naval.

“We never said which pair of lips,” Elfa whispered in her ear just as Kama’s lips reached her clit, pressing a kiss against it as heat built in her stomach.

“No,” she said, trying to keep her breathing under control.

“I will not tell you what to do, our Queen, but if you wished to let go, we would welcome that,” Elfa’s voice was low in her ear, coaxing her to do something.

“I wish for more,” she said. It was all she could think of to say, even as the kisses continued.

Elfa’s lips were on her neck then, sucking her skin. There would be a bruise in the morning, and even as she thought she should not allow herself to be marked so, the thought of it made the heat in her stomach increase and then she was peaking, legs wrapping around Kama’s shoulders and holding him in place.

Kama was still there when she came back to herself.

“There,” Elfa said, “was your more.”

She looked at Elfa. “I know there is more than that, too.”

“There is, and you will learn it as well. But Kama is not as young as he used to be, and his knees likely ache from being on the floor for so long. We should let him get off of them, and we can lay on this bed together and speak of what you wish for next.”

She laughed at the thought of Kama needing a break, even as he pretend to be falling to the floor at Elfa’s words. But he did join them on the bed, and whispered to her of all the things they could do together.

That, evidently, was Elfa’s signal to slip first one and then a second finger inside her, touching her lightly to Kama’s words until she had come once more, biting Kama’s shoulder this time as he held her.

She slept that night curled between the two, even as the others came into the room and took other spots on the mattress and on the couches placed around the bed. She did not wake at those movements, for the first time since she had arrived.

In the early morning hours, she woke and stared at the ceiling as the light made the carvings look like they were flying. She would have to make a choice, she decided, about how close she wanted to be to them. If she could do this - if she could tell them of her wishes and childhood, in addition to her orders, could she not do more? And did she not already call them by their names, even as they did not call her by hers?

She stared at the ceiling for hours, thinking of what to do. She needed allies. She needed those she could trust, and both magic and personal loyalty assured they were. None of them would be able to betray her. Not here. Not now.

Then it was time for the others to awake, and so they did, filling the room with chatter and movement. Breakfast was brought into the room, piled on plates and then placed in front of her. She lifted the fork to her lips, tasting cinnamons and sweet apples.

“My lady,” Elfa began after a moment watching her eat.

“Nay,” she said. The words rested heavy on her tongue, but they felt right. “Do not call me so, at least in private. Call me Kiza.”

She looked around the room, and made her choice. “All of you should. We shall need to be close if we are to find a way to lift the siege.”

It was not success, not yet. But it was a start, and Kiza felt lighter now that she had made her choice.


End file.
